OK - first thing! People stare! I knew this car would be a head turner, but I wasn't prepared for it being EVERY car/pedestrian. An on top of that 1/5 give you some kind of acknowledgement as you pass!
So, I'll give a first day review and then some of the pics.
Arrive at the dealership 8.30am sharp. Immediately I notice the handover bay is already full with another car, and not even an S car!! Was mildly miffed, but no big deal, it's about the car, not the location you pick it up in!
Sales guy was excellent as ever, the dealership had got us a nice bottle of wine, and he actually got me a little bottle of JD from him personally as well which was very appreciated!
At this point I will state, I'm not running it in. Once the engine is warm, red line, full throttle all the way!
So initial impressions, FAST! I pulled out of the dealership and gave it a squirt in the 30 yards up to the mini roundabout, I actually giggled to myself
So off we went to the wrapping place, basically a trundle through busy streets, and with the Mrs in tow in the loan Yeti I couldn't spank it, but on a couple of roundabouts gave it some and this is not like other quattro/S car's I've driven! The only way I can describe it, is it scampers through the corners under power, you don't get that "I'm nailed to the road and the tarmac will get ripped up before you lose grip" sensation you get in an S3, or my SQ5 for example. It skips gayly round the corner smiling all the way (as do I!). It is by no means lacking in grip, it has BUCKETS of it, but you really feel it scrabbling to find the best wheel to send power to, it's a great sensation and you really feel alive, they've managed to remove some of that 'dull and sensible' feeling many other fast Audi's get (often when compared to a RWD BMW for obvious reasons) - so basically scampering=good! I guess this may be partially the result of the new 60/40 Haldex system, rather than the older 100/0 with up to 50/50 shove on demand. However Torsen is more akin to this new Haldex naturally so not sure!
So, get to the wrap place at 11am, the guy had an S5, and had just wrapped an A1 boot lid same as mine (obviously a dreamer, wishing they could have an S1!), so he was very excited to see it. We discussed satin or gloss, on the basis gloss matches the roof, but satin matches the wheels... We decided satin, and I'll be getting the grey diffuser painted gloss, and then the top edge of it wrapped satin to complete the look. So we went down the road for a cuppa while he did his thing.
45 mins later, and it looked awesome! Anyone wanting a wrap in the South (Central) go here... http://www.utws.co.uk!! They were by a LONG way the most recommended to me, and also the cheapest
So off we trot into the New Forest to get the Mrs new vRS, only 15 mins down the road. I won't go into detail about the vRS as I will be doing a full review with pics on briskoda.net and will post a link here for those interested
http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/305121-new-octavia-estate-vrs-20-tdi-dsg-ordered/?p=3948716
So after pickup we went down the road to a spot I knew from a previous photoshoot with my SQ5 and another SQ5 owner.
Unfortunately the weather was not great, so the pics are really not spectacular, but it was a decent spot to just take a few from different angles for you all to see...
I'm really pleased with the overall look! As stated above, just have to be careful as it's VERY noticeable!
Did a couple of the interior, I'll get some better ones of the interior maybe later today, but as you can see, it's equally insane in there!
And one of the 2 new baby's, we have named them Bumble and Wiz (her plate is W12 VRS)...
So we then drove the hour back home, popped into the in-laws for them to pretend they think these are sensible purchases and go for a VERY sedate test drive with them and then it was off to the nighttime photoshoot location...
I also did a shot of the Bose/door lights, they do look pretty cool!
So there were a couple of negatives, nothing major, but worth noting...
The air vents have a tendency to reflect in the wing mirror which is quite distracting.
The Auto headlights couldn't decide between on/off as we drove through the twilight. In the past my experience of Auto lights is once they come on, they stay on until there is a significant increase in light. It was kinda annoying, and highlighted by my next minor gripe...
Despite the Bose lights looking very cool, they are quite distracting, the passenger one is in the corner of your vision and very obvious when everything else is dark.
Not so much a definitive negative, but it was discussed on here in a couple of threads, the not so colour DIS... After using it for a full day, I have decided I quite like the simple, non distracting monochrome look. It displays just what you need in a nice ergonomic and straight forward fashion. It also I imagine will make warning clear there is a problem as they are in colour (not that I have had one yet).
The cruise control, this I am going to report to the dealership. It's can't just maintain a single throttle position. On a straight, flat bit of road you would expect a smooth ride, no, it basically go on/off the throttle gently modulating the speed +- 0.5mph of the target. It's an odd sensation and kinda makes you feel sick after a while. Never had a cruise control that does this before!
I think that's it for now... The weather is much better today so we are discussing best spot to that the cars for some sunnier pics
